The NIATx Action Campaign is offering a free webinar on Tuesday, May 10 at 12pm EST.

“The Impact of Billing and Third Payer Participation on Your Workforce: Learnings from the Pacesetter Award Process” will be presented by Wayne Daily, PhD, Project Coordinator of The Behavioral Health Pacesetter Award (a partnership between the Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce and the Hitachi Foundation) and John Morris, MSW, Executive Director, The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce.

Audio for the webinar will be broadcast through your computer speakers.

Note: The webinar room has a capacity of 200 participants and access will be given on a first come, first served basis. You can still listen to the webinar by calling this toll-free number (1-866-642-1665, participant pass code: 821938) and accessing the presenter’s slides through the NIATx website.

Anthony Coulson, Director of ADAPTE International, gave a keynote presentation on the situation between the U.S. and Mexico, including statistics on drug seizures and images of the violence along the border. Coulson discussed the U.S. foreign policy dilemma and advocated treatment and recovery efforts as an effective solution.

In 2010, Anthony Coulson retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Tucson District Office and directed the Federal Government’s drug enforcement strategy in Southern Arizona. He began his career with the DEA in 1982 and has served in Washington, D.C.; Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles, California; and Songkhla, Thailand. In 1996 and 2002, he received the DEA’s highest award, the Administrator’s Award for Exceptional Service.

Coulson explained that 90 percent of drugs in this country enter through the southwest border, and he emphasized that, at 2,000 miles long, the U.S. southern border can never be secured.

“I’m a big proponent of putting people in jail,” summarized Coulson. “If they have a problem, give them treatment. But I don’t want to see them again.” He argued that dealers and traffickers need to be removed from communities, so that the communities have time to heal. He added that there must be strategies in place to facilitate that recovery.

Based on seizures, Coulson asserted that marijuana trafficking creates the channels that all other drugs – cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine – use. In 2009, 3.5 million pounds of marijuana was seized, at a value of $3.5 billion dollars. Coulson asserted that amount likely represents 20 percent of the total marijuana trade, but that drug cartels plan for this loss as a part of their business strategy.

In addition to drugs, the U.S. seizes billions of dollars in cash and assets each year. A percentage of that amount goes back to law enforcement agencies, but Coulson encouraged treatment and prevention organizations to advocate for a share of these funds. “You need to be a voice. Get $2 billion of seized assets, and turn it into treatment and prevention. Law enforcement will fight you on it, but they don’t do anything with it.”

From Coulson’s perspective, all law enforcement efforts should have the goal of raising prices of drugs high enough to drive people to treatment. He claims that the U.S. government doesn’t value treatment and prevention as the true solution to drug trafficking. It doesn’t recognize that, without addressing the underlying problem of addiction, the costs of enforcement and corrections will continue.

President Rhonda Messamore opened the Spring 2011 meeting of the IC&RC Board of Directors with the bang of a gavel – and a heartfelt speech about the 30th anniversary.

“With this meeting, we kick off IC&RC’s anniversary, ‘Celebrating 30 Years of Setting Standards for Addiction Professionals.’ According to some traditions, the 30th wedding anniversary is the pearl anniversary. We’ve taken the pearl as a symbol for this year. Think about it: a pearl begins as a grain of sand, but oh-so-slowly, over time, the oyster turns this irritation into a beautiful treasure. A pearl represents healing from imperfection, creating beauty and meaning from pain.”

“This imagery resonated strongly for me, and I hope it does for you too. Our very work has at its foundation a world of hurt – the pain that drives addiction, and the pain that it causes, in individuals, in families and in communities. But slowly, with persistence, through the long, hard effort of counselors and prevention specialists, many of these wounds have been healed – and miraculous beauty has come from them. Through the long, patient work of certification boards, clients and their families can rest easy knowing they are working with competent, ethical professionals. Funders and employers know they are working from the latest, evidence-based practices.”

The Certification Reciprocity Consortium/Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, Inc. adopted bylaws and articles of incorporation in South Bend, Indiana in 1981. At that time, the first office of the consortium was located in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

After three decades, IC&RC is stronger than ever. It represents 76 certification boards and more than 43,000 reciprocal-level certified professionals. The organization now administers more than 8,000 examinations a year.

Last week in Denver, Colorado, more than 75 delegates from Member Boards gathered to set the direction for the future of the international organization. Being in Colorado was made all the more special, when the Colorado Prevention Certification Board was joyfully welcomed into the organization. Carmelita Muniz, Mary Anne Burdick, and Cheryl Reid represented the new board at the meeting and already made their contributions clear.

I’m also happy to announce that Tammi Lewis, LPC, AADC, ALPS, Therapist at CAMC Family Resource Center in Charleston, West Virginia, is the new co-chair of the Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (AADC) Committee. Frank Davis, IAADC, ICCJP, LCDC, of the Texas Certification Board of Addiction Professionals has agreed to become the new co-chair of the Certified Criminal Justice Addictions Professional (CCJP) committee.

The Peer Recovery Support Specialist credential is continuing toward adoption. Based on three states that already offer a peer recovery credential, minimum standards have been developed, and the credential will undergo IC&RC’s evaluation process over the next six months.

As our 30th anniversary year continues, the staff is working to make all of our activities special. So don’t forget to mark your calendars for the Fall Meeting – October 25 to 27 in Orlando, Florida. See you there!